Resource Curse

Congress should support laws that promote transparency among companies that mine in the Congo and resist watering down new regulations “to half measures that may save money, but cost lives,” said Bishop Nicolas Djomo Lola, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Congo, in testimony before a House subcommittee on May 10. Speaking not as a business executive or a financial expert but as “a religious leader, who is deeply disturbed by the terrible violence and suffering that has dominated life in Eastern Congo since 1996,” Bishop Djomo Lola said: “This violence has destroyed families, villages and communities. One prominent driver of the violence is illicit mining conducted by the many armed groups in Eastern Congo.” He urged U.S. politicians and business people to “protect the life and human dignity of the Congolese people by conducting legal, transparent and accountable international commerce. We are confident that they do not want to be part of the misery that has plagued Eastern Congo for years.”